“…everyone took a good hard look at the performance of ‘Roseanne.'”
Fox told reporters that while it had been interested in “Last Man Standing” since its cancellation, it was the success of the “Roseanne” reboot that pushed it to put it back on the air.“Obviously I think everyone took a good hard look at the performance of ‘Roseanne,’” Dana Walden, chairman and CEO of Fox Television Group, told Entertainment Weekly .She explained that the show’s ratings reminded executives that Tim Allen is a “huge iconic comedy star.” However, the success of “Roseanne” isn’t the only reason “Last Man Standing” got a second chance on television.Walden said the network’s been talking to Allen throughout the year and tried to pick the show up when ABC let it go.“It’s a really funny show,” she said. “It had nothing to do with ‘Roseanne’ that we were interested in the first place.”Walden added that there was always wonder at the network about how “Last Man Standing” would do if it was prioritized in a way that ABC didn’t, and “Roseanne” was the final push it needed.“We were emboldened by ‘Roseanne,’” she explained.The “Roseanne” reboot — which, similarly to “Last Man Standing,” features a politically conservative lead — exploded onto the television scene with a whopping 15 million viewers tuning in to the show.While fans praised Fox for picking up “Last Man Standing,” others noted the show’s contrast to “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” which was not renewed:So fox can pick up a show about a trump supporter but canceled a show about diversity???? Sounds quite white. #LastManStanding— the samburglar (@sammthegiraffe_) May 11,2018 Fox cancelled Brooklyn Nine-Nine to revive Last Man Standing and honestly I hate Trump’s America so much.— Serpent Hag (@Neil_McNeil) May 11,2018 Walden praised the cast and writing of “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” but said that the decision not to renew it for another season came down to scheduling and being unable to put it on Sunday prime time, where it performed best.Entertainment Weekly pointed out that “Last Man Standing” on ABC received an average of 8 million viewers with minimal promotion, while “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” averaged less than 3 million.“Last Man Standing” will come back in the fall and will be broadcast on Friday nights.Jenni Fink, Senior Writer. She joined IJR in 2016 as a writer and covers primarily politics and stories about inspiring human beings. She graduated fr… more